This was a quick read but I wasn’t a huge fan of the plot. I felt it could have spent another round or two in editing.

I was really excited to start this book - it took me a little longer to get to it but I really wanted to be in the right mood for a good SciFi Dystopia. And ready I was.
Sadly I got really disappointed.
For the first 30% of the book I had no clue what was going on. It felt like we were running around with angel statues, which are forbidden but we have no idea why. A meteor shower that caused something incredibly important and scandalous. Of which we had no idea what the scandal really was. An angel statue pointing towards the meteor. A prophecy maybe?
The worldbuilding was so confusing that I had to go and read the synopsis to help me understand what this world was all about. Which helped me understand the framework. But shouldn't the book itself be able to do just that?
Slowly I understood that we are in a futuristic dystopian world where religion and art has been forbidden and is villified. Exciting premise! I love this type of idea and exploring what a society could come to if elements that we know in our world are taken away. Now I was excited to explore the world and understand the rules and limitations.
But alas, that is not the case. Instead, we are focusing on the main characters journey finding god. I love some religious exploration as well. But in this case, it is pushed onto the reader in a way where we are not only following the main characters thoughts, this book started to read like a religious pamphlet, trying to convert, "awaken" me to the word of god. The writing style was getting more and more preachy and religiously driven. In the end, our main charachters quest is to show the citizens of the place we are following "the truth", which translates to "God/religion". We are following a missionary in their quest to make everybody a believer. I still think it could be a really interesting premise, if the narrator would take a more neutral stance and explore the benefits of trying to convert people, but potantially also view the critical side and question this obsessively religious behavior. As such was not the case, this book was going way too far for my taste. I really would love to hear from some religious people how they experience this book! While reading I was really leaning between religious fanatics either loving this or considering this blasphemy.

This still does not mean that this is necessarily a bad book. I think the writing style is really nice at times and the overall premise/idea was nice. I just would have hoped for a little bit of a different execution.

Book one in the City of Light Series, Wake is a good and quick read. Monet and Luke live in the city of Titus and find a book that shows what mankind was really like and it is nothing like the city and world they currently exist in. The more they delve into this and the paths they chose to take show them that they can make the choice to be safe or to go out and see what all they are being shown that they are missing.

Firstly, this novel is an unexpected collaboration of some of the most common YA tropes, in the best way.

While the structure of the novel can lead to boredom, its plot-line and characters work together to create a succinctly interesting trope. Following the typical Dystopian theme, the plot moves definitlivley towards its conclusion, leaving crumbs along the way for the skilled reader to almost pre-empt the ending. All in all, despite the predictability and confusion, the novel was worth the read.

This story was definitely not what I expected. T o read of a society that exists without being apart of other civilization and to be murdered for belief astound me. The story is well developed and the charcters are as well. Luke is so far my favorite character. This book is a quick read and very good.

Wake is a story with an interesting premise. It's a thrilling fast read. The characters are engaging. Twists and turns keep the story going. It's a good read overall.

Imagine living in a world where religious artistic expression is forbidden and belief in God, the Bible or angels is punishable by death! You are orphaned because of this decree, your mother was taken away and probably killed, and you are left to be raised by a houseparent and a society that is enclosed in a small area and watches your every move!
This is Monet’s world, her best friend Luke is a secret sculptor who sculpts lifelike metal angels like the ones in his secret book.
Galeo, one of Monet’s housemates is with the team that finds an angel pointing to a clock in a hillside, he hands Monet 3 smooth stones that are part of a fallen meteorite near the angel.
These stones show Monet and her friends people and events that happened in the past before the Triad took over the town and banned religion.
Monet and her friends discover the truth about their missing parents and they realize they need to escape the Triad but how...?

This book hooks you on the first page and doesn't let go. It is well written with enough action and suspense to keep you turning the pages. If you like YA sci-fi and fantasy novels you will love this book. Thank you Darwin House Press via NetGalley for the copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.